Adjustable welt guide



Nov. 20, 1962 A. RUBICO ADJUSTABLE WELT GUIDE Filed May 12., 1960 United States Patent 3,064,598 ADJUSTABLE WELT GUIDE Jerome A. Rubico, Boston, Mass, assignor to Batchelder. Rubico, Inc., Boston, Mass, a corporation of Massa: chusetts Filed May 12, 1960, Ser. No. 28,764 10 Claims. (Cl. 112-52) This invention comprises a new and improved welt guide for accurately directing different types of welting or those varying in their dimensions to the sewing point of a welt sewing machine.

Under commercial conditions, the Welter is called upon frequently to change from dealing with one type of welting to another as, for example, from a flat welt to a beaded storm welt, or a high wall welt or a split reverse welt. Heretofore such changes in welting have necessitated a troublesome and time-consuming interchange and replacement of the guide and other elements of the welt sewing machine. An object of the present invention is to provide a single welt guide so constructed and arranged that without special adjustments or change of parts all these difierent types of welting may be presented accurately to a shoe bottom without objectionable drag in the guide on the welting, and without danger that the welting may drop out of the guide in rounding the toe of the shoe.

The guide of my invention has characteristics of construction that not only adapt it for these improved results but which impart to it other advantages over the welt guides heretofore available to the shoemaking industry. For example, the back gauge is so mounted that it has a smooth non-binding movement under light but adequate spring pressure. The spring elements of the guide are completely enclosed and concealed, thus being protected from wax accumulated from the waxed thread, from physical damage by contact with the shoe, and from moisture exuded from the welt itself which is often overwetted by the operator.

For these various reasons, the guide of the present invention has been found to present the welt advantageously to the shoe with good pressure at the awl and needle point so that a particularly tight welt seam is secured and the welt is left in the most satisfactory position for outseam stitching.

These and other features of the invention will be best understood and appreciated from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, selected for puroses of illustration and shown in the accompanying drawings in which FIGS. 1 and 3 are plan views of the welt guide, seen respectively from below and above as mounted in a welt sewing machine, FIG. 3 showing the guide in its operative position.

FIG. 2 is an end view of the guide as seen from the right in FIG. 1.

FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 are fragmentary views on an enlarged scale showing the welt in cross section.

The guide as herein shown comprises a carrier member in the form of a block 10, rectangular in cross-section and having a stepped rear face with a rearwardly oifset portion 11, and a front face which angles forwardly in the direction of the welt feed. A stem or stud 12 projects transversely from one side of the block 10, and serves as means for mounting the guide in the welt sewing machine. The upper surface of the block 19 as seen in FIG. 3 may be defined as including two lands disposed one on opposite sides of a channel designed to receive the shank of the welt shield as will presently appear.

Within the block is formed a pair of separate bores inclined rearwardly at about with respect to the upper and lower faces of the block as shown in FIG. 2 and in Bfihdfi Patented Nov. 20, 1962 these bores are slidingly mounted posts 13 and 14 of the back gauge. The posts are both shouldered near their rear ends and provided with rearwardly extending stems of reduced diameter encircled by compression springs 15 and 16 respectively that are housed in concentric chambers within the block 10. The posts 13 and 14 are disposed in parallel relation but stepped longitudinally, that is to say, the post 13 is located further forward than the post 14.

The back gauge is secured to the outer ends of the posts 13 and 14 and movably carried by them. It comprises an outwardly convex web or cross bar 17 shaped to bear on the outer edge of the welt, and an under flange or platform 18 extending beneath the top grain surface of the welt as it is presented to the shoe bottom in inverted position. As already noted, the springs 15 and 16 are completely enclosed within the solid metal of the block it]. The bearing point or area of the bar 17 of the back gauge lies between the projected axes of the posts 13 and 14 and near the point where the welt is stitched, thus obviating any tendency of the back gauge to bind or cramp in its adjusting movement and insuring a smooth uniform pressure of engagement with the welt in all positions of the gauge. The cross bar 17 is disposed at an angle to the axes of the posts 13 and 14.

A welt shield having a flat shank 19 is secured by a bolt 20 to the rear face of the block'iiti. The outer portion of the shank is bent to conform to the angle of the posts 13 and 14. It merges at its lower end into a hooked or L-shaped portion 21 providing a free passage for the welt. The shield is provided with a recess 22 for the passage of the welt sewing needle as indicated in FIG. 5. It also includes an internal shoulder 23 which is located in the path of movement of the flange 18 of the back gauge. It will be understood that the back gauge is biased outwardly as shown herein and it is limited in its movement by encountering the shoulder 23. When no welt is in the guide, the flange 18 of the back gauge rests upon the land 23 of the welt shield.

In FIGS. 1-4, a beaded storm welt 31 is shown as passing through the welt guide in position to be secured to the insole rib of a Goodyear shoe by the action of the needle of the welt sewing machine in passing through the recess 22 of the welt shield. In this operation, the outer edge of the welt is continuously engaged with a uniform yielding pressure by the convex bar 17 of the back gauge. The inner flange of the welt is accordingly positively located by contact with the inner face of the welt shield which is set in the proper stationary position in the machine, while the welt is supported from underneath at the proper level by the flange or platform 18 of the back gauge.

In FIG. 5, a welt 32 of the high-wall type is shown as passing through the welt guide, and in FIG. 6 a flat welt 39 is shown in operative position, while the back gauge is free to ride in and out in accommodating any variations in the width of the welt strip passing to the sewing point.

For the convenience of the Welter, the back gauge crossbar 17 may be provided with a transversely extending ear or finger piece 17' by which the back gauge may be retracted againts its spring pressure to facilitate the introduction of a welt to the guide.

Having thus disclosed my invention and described in detail an illustrative example thereof, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. An adjustable welt guide comprising a block of rectangular cross section having a rearwardly oifset portion from which projects a supporting stem, a pair of parallel posts slidingly mounted within the block in stepped relation to each other and at an inclination to the upper surface thereof, a back gauge embodying a crossbar carried by said post at their outer ends and having a bearing area on the welt located between the projected axes of said posts, compression springs completely enclosed in the block and one surrounding a reduced part of each post, and a hooked shield secured to the block and extending at its operative end beyond the back gauge.

2. An adjustable welt guide comprising a carrier member, a pair of parallel spring-pressed posts mounted within said member and projecting from the outer face thereof, springs completeley enclosed and protected within said carrier member and arranged to protrude said posts, and a back gauge secured at spaced points unto the outer ends of said parallel posts and having a bearing area on the welt located between the projected axes of said posts.

3. An adjustable welt guide of the character described in claim 2, further characterized in that each post has a separate spring completely enclosed and concealed within the block.

4. An adjustable welt guide of the character described in claim 2, further characterized in that the back gauge has a convex face and a projecting welt supporting flange both located to engage the welt at a point between the projected axes of the posts when a welt strip is in the guide.

5. An adjustable welt guide comprising a block with converging front and rear surfaces, slidable spring-pressed posts mounted in said block adjacent to the opposite ends of the block and protruding from the block in spaced relation to each other, springs enclosed and protected within said block and acting to advance said posts, an elongated and flanged back gauge secured to the protruding ends of said posts and disposed with its flange in position to underlie and support the welt in an area between said posts, and an L-shaped welt shield secured to the block.

6. An adjustable welt guide as described in claim 5, further characterized in that the welt shield has a shank disposed at an inclination to the adjacent face of the 8. An adjustable welt guide of the character described in claim 5, further characterized in that the backward slope of the plane determined by the parallel axes of the two posts passes below the axis of the supporting stem of the block.

9. An adjustable welt guide comprising a block of rectangular cross section having a rearwardly offset portion from which projects a supporting stem, a pair of parallel posts slidingly mounted within the block, a back gauge embodying a crossbar carried by said posts at their outer ends, compression springs completely enclosed and protected in the block and one surrounding a part of each post, and a hooked shield secured to the block and extending at its operative end beyond the back gauge.

10. An adjustable welt guide comprising a carrier member having a pair of spring pressed posts carrying between them a back gauge, and a shield secured to the carrier member and having a welt passage disposed opposite to the back gauge and presenting a stepped configuration in the passage with shoulders of difierent heights for engaging both fiat welting and beaded welting in cooperation With the back gauge.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,094,838 Dow Apr. 28, 1914 1,202,283 Gray Oct. 24, 1916 2,857,870 Knieriemen et a1. Oct. 28, 1958 2,878,762 Rubico Mar. 24, 1959 2,922,387 Black Jan. 26, 1960 

